Does anyone have any more information about the aborted video game project David Lynch was working on back in 1998? Replaying Grim Fandango made me realise there should be more games like it and David Lynch would be perfect for the job. He's already got a brilliant setting and these days it's ridiculously easy to make video games.

Hey! Yes this did sound like a great project when it was in the news back then, I remember that there were a number of short online news articles and discussions but that was about all I remember although I am sure there was more. I'm sure a search might pick up some of the lingering stuff.

I think Lynch mentioned that the technology was there to do what he wanted but I think he kinda implied that the resulting game that he had in mind (which I thought might have been rather Myst like?) wouldn't have had enough appeal and would have been too "slow" and "exploratory" to the then current generation of gamers used to consoles offering highspeed reaction type gaming (which has probably just got kinda more all encompassing with more recent games/consoles) and I think that is why possibly the project was shelved/put on hold. (Just my opinion, I may be way off the mark).

I, like many of us here I am sure, would have found an interactive game world created by Lynch somewhat wonderful - but the majority of the gaming consumers maybe not. Somewhat like Emmanuel Papillon's "The Black Lodge" homage, and the telephone booths on davidlynch.com, an interactive application would be very appealing

I'd love to see a Lynch video game! I think there could be a very enthusiastic audience for the kind of game he'd come up with. Mainstream gamers play stuff like Halo and Madden, it's true, but there are unique games in the market that have dedicated cult followings.

In the same vein, maybe this will be interesting to you guys. The trailer came out sometime last year, but because of constant comparisons to Twin Peaks, the developers claimed they were going to do a complete overhaul and pushed the release date to 2009. I was very disappointed-- it's not like a Twin Peaks game wouldn't be awesome. I'd like to hear what Lynch had to say about it.

There's also Silent Hill 2, whose plotline is too much like Lost Highway for it to be a coincidence (especially considering there's a street in the town called "Lynch Street").

Similar to what you guys are saying - I've given thought to the idea of interactive Lynch... what would you call them? Games? Worlds? For each of his films. Similar to the Black Lodge site - in each one, much like current video game play, you'd be free to wander and explore the "worlds" - you would walk around and interact with, say, the industrial world of Eraserhead, or the Victorian England of Elephant Man, or Lumberton of Blue Velvet, Big Tuna of Wild at Heart, the town of Twin Peaks, the LA of Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE, etc.

The mysteries would still be mysteries, but some new angles could be incorporated - scenes cut from the films, or things from shooting scripts that weren't incorporated could be part of the world - like the bits of violence in Wild at Heart, or the bar scene before Ben's place in Blue Velvet, or the women in bed in Eraserhead, etc.

You'd walk around each environment, and explore thing, interact with characters, see clips of the movie, etc.

Has anybody kept up with SecondLife? John Neff had described it just like you guys above did, wandering to different parts of movies along with other parts of the world. John had said a long time ago that there was a DL jazz club and some other stuff, but my computer is too old to go there.

Never really got into Second Life, although I hear it is a great community. I think in relation to evocating atmosphere etc that current and future generation consoles/computers will excel slightly more than online worlds like Second Life (in the short term) since they have dedicated power to create mood/atmosphere etc in an interactive world - which as everyone knows is very important in Lynch's work.

As much as I would love to experience interactive Lynch worlds related to his existing movie work wouldn't it be just great if he and a team were able to put together a completely novel world to explore with a cinema-like storyline? Image a world the size of that offered in Grand Theft Auto for instance, crafted by Mr Lynch, music by Badalamenti, etc. All ready for us to explore and discover its secrets by playing our own version of a person in trouble (Assuming the plot played out like some of the films!). Oh yeah, assuming of course it wasn't too darn confusing!

We had built a large Goth Club and Lynch museum in Second Life, along with a Jack Nance memorial gallery, and a club/lounge with a private area for David to visit, stocked with Lynch-Bages wine, American Spirit cigarettes and Fois Gras pate.

We DJ'd into it a couple of times and had a good audience, including a lot from Europe. We also built a performance stage replete with equipment and were going to have Nightsage play live into the club, and we built a BlueBOB lounge, but alas, it is all gone. We had a development partner and she 'sold the land', meaning that we no longer had a place for it all. We started re-construction on our own island, but it was too much alone and we abandoned it a couple of months ago.

After we finish up a lot of new recording, we might try to do it again. I would recommend Second Life, but you have to get past all the scammers at the entrance portals.

As to Woodcutters, Dave was fairly far down the road writing the game when the Japanese development partner pulled out. There was a banking or finance disaster of some sort in Japan and they couldn't continue. Would have been nice to see, though.